{"id":31,"date":"2014-01-27T14:25:17","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T14:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/procyonic.org\/blog\/?p=31"},"modified":"2014-01-27T14:26:05","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T14:26:05","slug":"the-most-interesting-characters-in-downton-abbey-are-the-writers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/procyonic.org\/blog\/the-most-interesting-characters-in-downton-abbey-are-the-writers\/","title":{"rendered":"The most interesting characters in Downton Abbey are the writers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Downton Abbey is a ridiculous, pandering, soap opera with writers
\nwho must be a team of high-tech robots perched over a tank full of
\nvivisected, but still living, human organs and brains. The
\nproduction, by which I mean the camera work, the sets and costumes,
\nthe period research1<\/sup>, and, why not, even the acting, are
\ngreat.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The fourth wall, falsely divided.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As such, Downton Abbey’s most interesting characters are the
\nwriters themselves. How this can be is interesting in and of itself,
\nbut first let me explain what I mean.<\/p>\n

The Titanic<\/h2>\n

Downton Abbey begins with the heir to the Earldom of Grantham dying
\non The Titanic, and so, immediately, the viewer knows what kind of
\nshow they are in for. This show is going to be
\nsuperlatively historical<\/i>, just like an episode of Star Trek on
\nthe holodeck2<\/sup>. There are, of course, lots of ways for
\npeople to die in real life. Hell, there are lots of ways for them to
\ndie on Television. There are even plenty of ways for them to die in
\nhistorically appropriate ways. But the fact that The Heir to the
\nEarldom of Grantham dies on The Titanic forces us to ask at least one
\nof the following questions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What kind of people are these
    \nwriters?<\/li>\n
  2. What kind of people do they think we
    \nare?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    But here is the interesting thing: we ask<\/i> these questions.
    \nWe ask them instead of turning the TV off.<\/i> And so we must ask,
    \nas viewers, what is going on here?<\/p>\n

    What is going on?<\/h2>\n

    Downton Abbey is the television production equivalent of Get Smart,
    \nand just as Maxwell Smart can only be<\/i> Maxwell Smart, and hence
    \ncarry the show, if Agent 99 plays the dutiful straight woman, cleaning
    \nup after him and making everything run smoothly, so too must the
    \nactors and production teams, the cinematographers and talent scouts,
    \nplay Agent 99 to Downton Abbey’s writers.<\/p>\n

    We3<\/sup> would never tolerate melodrama with the frequency,
    \nboldness, and ridiculousness of Downton Abbey without the rock solid
    \ngrounding of the production. When not one, but TWO, women get chills
    \nwhen their romantic partners are injured on the battlefield of World
    \nWar One (at the same time!), we might laugh, roll our eyes, or express
    \nour incredulity to our friends, but we don’t stop watching. When the
    \nsupposedly dead heir supposedly shows up horribly disfigured by the
    \nwar, we can tolerate it. We can even tolerate it when Edith falls in
    \nlove with him, God help us.<\/p>\n

    And because we don’t stop watching, we can engage not only with the
    \nshow, but with the writers as a character in and of themselves.<\/p>\n

    Not breaking the fourth wall<\/h2>\n

    When I watch Downton Abbey, I find myself trying to understand the
    \npsychology and motivations, not of the characters, who are pretty
    \ntransparent, but of the writers. When a character might possibly have
    \ncancer, and the writers would never simply reveal this sort of juicy
    \nplot point outright, they must make us stew a bit, I find myself
    \nsaying: are the writers mean enough<\/i> to give this character a
    \nterminal illness? Do they<\/i> think we<\/i> think that this will
    \nbe compelling or “over the top?” When the show really surprises you,
    \nyou can’t help but feel that the writers have scored a point. And you
    \ncan’t help but wonder “Obviously the writers expect us to swallow this
    \nshit and call it chocolate mousse, but are they eating it too? Is
    \nthat possible?”<\/p>\n

    What is surprising about this interaction is that it is between the
    \nviewer and the writer, and that it takes place entirely through, but
    \nwithout breaking, the fourth wall<\/p>\n

    Elevated to the Peerage<\/h2>\n

    Below, in the footnotes, I remark that Julian Fellowes, the creator
    \nand sometimes writer of Downton Abbey, is himself a member of the
    \nBritish Aristocracy. It is difficult, in light of the observations
    \nI’ve made up till now, not to read Downton, then, as a kind of
    \npropoganda, and to read the antics of the writers as the hysterics of
    \npropagandists everywhere. Certainly the show portrays Aristocrats as
    \nalmost uniformly selfless and dignified. While the servants are
    \nportrayed as no less dignified, their dignity derives from their
    \ndedication to service and not from more individualistic concerns.<\/p>\n

    Perhaps we can understand Downton, then, in the absence of any real
    \njustification for propaganda, as a kind of Pornography of Britishness.
    \nMaybe this even explains its popularity with American audiences, as,
    \ngenerally speaking, the kind of dopey, harmless pornography that
    \nDownton Abbey is usually has pretty universal appeal.<\/p>\n

    But I can’t help but feel that the unique tension of the show,
    \nwhere the production is working its hardest to keep a veneer of
    \nbelievability on a story which is spasming its hardest to break
    \nout is part of what keeps us watching.<\/p>\n

    Footnotes<\/h3>\n

    1<\/sup>: Although sometimes I feel that this aspect of the
    \nshow
    \nis not
    \nas excellent as it appears.<\/a><\/p>\n

    Incidentally, in that article, the show’s producer and
    \nwriter,     Julian
    \nFellowes<\/a> makes the following statement:<\/p>\n

    The real
    \nproblem is with people who are insecure socially, and they think to
    \nshow how smart they are by picking holes in the programme to promote
    \ntheir own poshness and to show that their knowledge is greater than
    \nyour knowledge, … The fact of the matter is that the really posh
    \npeople are pleased to see something on television that isn’t about a
    \ndead prostitute in a dustbin, and they seem to just be enjoying the
    \nprogramme.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    On this quote I wish only to make two
    \nobservations:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Julian Fellowes is himself a “real life”
      \n“aristocrat” who was recently elevated to the peerage<\/li>\n
    2. Holy
      \nballs this guy must be a real delight at parties.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      2<\/sup>Speaking of which, has anyone else observed how
      \ninfluential       Quantum
      \nLeap<\/a> has been on shows like Mad Men and Downton Abbey?<\/p>\n

      3<\/sup>I’m pretty sure I mean the “Royal We” here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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